Oct. 23, 2017

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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com OCT. 23, 2017 25
3
Teams in the 129-team Football Bowl Subdivi-
sion to win three road games — not including
neutral sites — through Oct. 7 against Power Five
schools, with Notre Dame doing so against Boston
College, Michigan State and North Carolina. The
Fighting Irish join two top-10 squads — Georgia and
Washington — as the only teams to have achieved
that through six games. Entering this season, Notre
Dame was only 3-10 in its last 13 games in the
home stadium of its opponent, dating back to 2013.
4
Consecutive Notre Dame victories by at least
20 points — 49-20 at Boston College, 38-18
at Michigan State, 52-17 versus Miami (Ohio) and
33-10 at North Carolina — a first since head coach
Charlie Weis' first season in 2005 when the Irish
finished No. 9. That season Notre Dame defeated
Brigham Young (49-23), Tennessee (41-21), Navy
(42-21) and Syracuse (34-10) before rallying late for
a 38-31 win at Stanford in the regular-season finale.
10
Straight victories for Notre Dame on
Oct. 7, dating back to 1955. It is 16-1-1 all
time on that date, with the lone defeat occurring in
1950 to Purdue, ending the school record 39-game
unbeaten streak.
11
Quarterback hurries by the Notre Dame
defense, with sophomore end Julian Ok-
wara leading the way with three, while sophomore
end Daelin Hayes and junior nose tackle Jerry Til-
lery had two apiece. The Irish also had two sacks,
which don't always tell the story of how effective
the pass rush was.
13
Runs of at least 35 yards by Notre Dame
this season after only six games, with ju-
nior Josh Adams scoring on a 73-yard rush and
sophomore Deon McIntosh tallying on a 35-yard
scurry in the win at North Carolina. During last
year's 4-8 season, the Irish had only seven — two
of them in the final two games by Adams.
18-2
Notre Dame's all-time record against
North Carolina in a series where the
first game was played in 1949. The .900 winning per-
centage is the best by the Fighting Irish among the 16
teams it has faced at least 20 times. Navy is second
at .850 with Notre Dame owning a 76-13-1 record.
24-26
For the first time this year, Notre
Dame failed to score once it entered
the red zone. In the third quarter on a first down at
the North Carolina 18-yard line, sophomore quarter-
back Ian Book tossed an interception to safety Myles
Dorn. Then at the end of the game, the Irish drove in-
side the UNC 10-yard line before opting to take a knee
and run out the clock. Notre Dame capitalized on the
first two in the game with a touchdown and field goal.
34-4
Record under head coach Brian Kelly
in his eight seasons when Notre Dame
wins the turnover battle, as it did (3-2) at North Car-
olina. That comes out to a .895 winning percentage.
73-10
The margin Notre Dame has out-
scored its opponents this year af-
ter a turnover by either team. North Carolina actu-
ally finished with a 7-3 advantage, with Notre Dame
scoring only once on the three turnovers it forced.
202
Career tackles for Notre Dame senior
linebacker and captain Nyles Morgan
after recording three against the Tar Heels. He
joins 2015 Butkus Award winner Jaylon Smith as
the two Fighting Irish players to reach that mile-
stone since the 2013 season.
308.0
Rushing yards per game for the
Irish at the halfway mark of the
season after adding 341 more at North Carolina.
At this pace, it would be the highest total at the
school since the 1973 national champions pro-
duced the 350.2 figure. Furthermore, the afore-
mentioned McIntosh became the fourth different
Notre Dame player to rush for at least 100 yards in
a game (124) this year, which might at worst tie a
school record.
2,544
Career rushing yards by junior
running back Josh Adams after
totaling 118 at North Carolina. This puts him No. 7
on the all-time Irish chart — and the most by a run-
ning back in the Kelly era. At North Carolina, Adams
surpassed 2010-12 Irish running back Cierre Wood,
who totaled 2,447 under Kelly. At No. 6 is 1975-78
fullback/tailback Jerome Heavens with 2,682.
BY THE NUMBERS BY LOU SOMOGYI
7-0
Record under head
coach Brian Kelly with
a first-time starter at quarterback.
Sophomore IAN BOOK became the
seventh, and three of those new
starts were against ranked teams,
with freshman Tommy Rees versus
No. 15 Utah in 2010 (Rees is now the
QB coach), sophomore Malik Zaire
against No. 22 LSU in the 2014 Music
City Bowl and DeShone Kizer versus
No. 14 Georgia Tech in 2015. Also
winning their first start were Dayne
Crist (2010, Purdue), Everett Golson
(2012, Navy) and Brandon Wimbush
(2017, Temple).
PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA